It doesn’t take a genius today to see that we are living in turbulent and accelerated times, socially, digitally, economically, politically and behaviorally AND many of us have experienced pain in our lives. I am writing this article to explain how I try to build, control and supply more pleasure and joy in my world and with my business colleagues, friends and family.

I think pleasure comes from being on the ‘cutting-edge’ and continually staying ahead of the storm as well as dealing with the constant changes that are all around us. I think many of you will agree, the past few years in modern American history have been some of the most accelerated and turbulent of the past decades and it’s only quickening! Especially when you take into account the trade wars, economy, politics’, GDP, America’s central bank (Federal Reserve) slashing its benchmark interest rate, etc.

Picture: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee again lowered their benchmark interest rate following their September meeting in Washington

Additionally, as I have loved working in the marketing, digital and tech space the last 20 years, I have always watched and noticed that America’s software industry has also been growing twice as fast as the nation’s economy. This industry has directly created many jobs and, since 2016, this industry has grown by 7.3% to reach 3.1+ million jobs at the present time. That’s incredible and has positioned the US as the world leader too!

According to Software.org, California, Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming are the states where software jobs are growing the fastest, with each seeing job growth of more than 30%+ since 2016.

So here’s the challenge for all Fortune 100’s and market leaders that have held that top position for the past 20 plus year: in order to ensure your continued success and indeed, your very existence, you must innovate, stay curious and create a culture of speed and superior customer experience. You must now structure your organizations to adapt and anticipate your competitors and the market.

If your business is complacent, repetitive, and full of established regulations and rules and overly protective of long established company beliefs and attitudes – regardless of your industry – you are walking with a target on your back AND will be unprepared for today’s era of rapid change and digital disruption.

Complacency, linked to a management team that says things like “this is how we’ve always done it” or “you need to follow our existing process” are sure-fire ways to draw the attention of hunters and disruptors. Old school companies like this are likely targets for displacement and disruption as they try to maintain the status quo by continuing to roll out their long established policies, procedures, hierarchy, guidelines and rigid corporate structures.

NOTHING IS PERMANENT, AND THAT’S ESPECIALLY TRUE IN RETAIL BUSINESS

Once major companies like: Sears, Toy T Us,Kodak, Brookstone, J.Crew, Blockbuster, Xerox, The Encyclopedia Britannica all had strong cultures BUT when new thinking and opportunities arose and presented themselves – that same culture all too often held them back.

As you may know, approximately 90% of the companies that were in the Fortune 500 ranks in 1955 have now disappeared. Plus, a full one-third of the companies listed in the 1970 Fortune 500 ranking, have also vanished. A process which is only accelerating in today.

Picture: Fitbit – Fitbit needs a major innovation to keep up in the wearable tech space. ‘A small fish in a big pond might not survive much longer’ – The improvements with each generation of the Apple Watch aren’t helping Fitbit’s cause.

To be successful today and into the future you must push your Board and Management by always questioning their long tried and tested theories, practices and procedures that have been used and been instilled in their corporate culture over many years.

Your Board and management team must now become insatiable in their quest for success. They need to assume things that were once thought impossible are now probable. They need to reduce the rigid repetitions that their organization may have used in the past serving clients. They must learn to stay curious, challenge Industry standards/rules/regulations and remove all the protectiveness of ideas, products and services PLUS be willing to jettison products or services that aren’t building deeper loyalty and improving customer experience.

It’s about always being in control and not simply reaction mode.

Winning and being successful today, is all about predicting and not reacting. If you want to win more often, be more successful, achieve more, become a high performance or peak performer – and grow to the next level and expand, to have a competitive advantage in business, be more effective than other people – if you constantly and effectively want a never ending improvement in the quality of your life, you need to consistently anticipate change, whether that is in business, your marriage, your sporting career or life in general.

I have seen the most successful people I know have always been exceptional at anticipating changes, trends and adopting issues or techniques way BEFORE they actually hit or are faced too. They all make changes before it occurs. This skill takes stress out of your life, can make you wealthy, improves your emotions and can take away fear too.

The power to anticipate is the power to shape the direction of your life and all those you care about.

ANTICIPATION IS THE ULTIMATE ADVANTAGE.

To win today, you must be innovative, shift the paradigm and rapidly adapt to today’s digital and accelerated world. And, as George Colony, CEO, Forrester Research stated,

“If you can’t understand the new world of digital,fire yourself. Build an executive team that is digital first. Make sure there is a techie on the Board of Directors. If the Board has a low digital IQ, the company will have a low digital IQ.”

In today’s atmosphere, it is critical to pay attention to and ‘anticipate’ your competitors because market shifts will be especially critical over the next few years. I personally believe, the companies that best understand the needs of their customers will have a huge competitive advantage as well as a future!

Edmund Burke, an Irish philosopher and statesman famously stated, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

The ability to solve problems is the key to your life and business success. From profound and difficult questions to the ridiculously simple problems. How quickly, how elegantly can you address and fix any issue that shows up in your life or business is the million dollar question.

Never immerse yourself in problems when they happen – if you anticipate problems before they occur – you will be far happier, more successful and live a more joyous life. Don’t be stressed – be a leader and simply anticipate more and further ahead. Just look at the leaders in Countries, business, sports and entertainment – the people that anticipate the problems before they even show up! And, they solve it even before it ever happens. That’s what anticipation means and why you must start to due everyday!

ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU SEE AND DEAL WITH IN ADVANCE

Utilize the future and step beyond the anticipated the standards of tomorrow. You can’t expect things to remain the same to win tomorrow!

To win the game of life and in business, you must be able to ‘anticipate’ where everything in life is going and how they are trying to go around us! Strengthen relationships, add more value and succeed. Apply daily.

Make this one of the most valued criteria in your life. This is a skill, not intuition or getting lucky, anticipating is a process and not anticipating will get you caught up in patterns that you must learn to break and become more successful.

CONCLUSION : ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE PARADIGM SHIFT – SET GOALS, RULES AND WIN THE GAME.

The status quo is not to our advantage unless you’re already on top and mastered things today BUT, to stay on top – you must keep learning and growing! You won’t be happy on top and not doing anything and not learning.

Always pursue a life to become better and more successful.

Finally, the power to anticipate is the power to shape the direction of your life and all those you care about. ANTICIPATION IS THE ULTIMATE ADVANTAGE. Go make it happen!

MORE ABOUT GEOFF DE WEAVER:

Super strategist who directs Fortune 500 clients to define their vision, create a strategy, and harness their internal innovation to grow their business or reinvent their products. My key skills are decades of data-powered tools including: CRM, Mobile, Social Media, PR and Digital.

Expert at building and transforming brands, businesses, and digital and physical customer experiences at scale. Adept at telling a cohesive and integrated global story across multiple audiences.

Geoff is currently ranked the Top 1% in the Advertising & Marketing Industries with his network on Linkedin and Social Selling Index worldwide. He has a remarkable reach of over 628,220,522 1st, 2nd and 3rd level connections alone on LinkedIn worldwide. (and a US focus)

History of success developing and executing cross-channel global marketing campaigns to drive brand positioning, equity, and awareness while increasing engagement and sales and loyalty. Over three decades of worldwide experience gained in markets like New York City, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Taipei, etc.